1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to diodes, and more particularly to gallium nitride (GaN) based diodes exhibiting improved forward voltage and reverse leakage current characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Diode rectifiers are one of the most widely used devices for low voltage switching, power supplies, power converters and related applications. For efficient operation it is desirable for diodes to have low on-state voltage (0.1-0.2V or lower), low reverse leakage current, high voltage blocking capability (20-30V), and high switching speed.
The most common diodes are pn-junction diodes made from silicon (Si) with impurity elements introduced to modify, in a controlled manner, the diode's operating characteristics. Diodes can also be formed from other semiconductor materials such as Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and silicon carbide (SiC). One disadvantage of junction diodes is that during forward conduction the power loss in the diode can become excessive for large current flow.
Schottky barrier diodes are a special form of diode rectifier that consist of a rectifying metal-to-semiconductor barrier area instead of a pn junction. When the metal contacts the semiconductor a barrier region is developed at the junction between the two. When properly fabricated the barrier region will minimize charge storage effects and improve the diode switching by shortening the turn-off time. [L. P. Hunter, Physics of Semiconductor Materials, Devices, and Circuits, Semiconductor Devices, Page 1-10 (1970)] Common Schottky diodes have a lower turn-on voltage (approximately 0.5V) than pn-junction diodes and are more desirable in applications where the energy losses in the diodes can have a significant system impact (such as output rectifiers in switching power supplies).
One way to reduce the on-state voltage below 0.5V in conventional Schottky diodes is to reduce their surface barrier potential. This, however, results in a trade-off of increased reverse leakage current. In addition, the reduced barrier can degrade high temperature operation and result in soft breakdown characteristics under reverse bias operation.
Also, Schottky diodes are commonly made of GaAs and one disadvantage of this material is that the Fermi level (or surface potential) is fixed or pinned at approximately 0.7 volts. As a result, the on-state forward voltage (Vf) is fixed. Regardless of the type of metal used to contact the semiconductor, the surface potential cannot be lowered to lower the Vf.
More recently, silicon based Schottky rectifier diodes have been developed with a somewhat lower Vf. [IXYS Corporation, Si Based Power Schottky Rectifier, Part Number DSS 20-0015B; International Rectifier, Si Based Shottky Rectifier, Part Number 11DQ09]. The Shottky barrier surface potential of these devices is approximately 0.4V with the lower limit of Vf being approximately 0.3-0.4 volts. For practical purposes the lowest achievable Shottky barrier potential is around 0.4 volts with regular metalization using titanium. This results in a Vf of approximately 0.25V with a current density of 100 A/cm2.
Other hybrid structures have been reported with a Vf of approximately 0.25V (with a barrier height of 0.58V) with operating current density of 100 A/cm2. [M. Mehrotra, B. J. Baliga, “The Trench MOS Barrier Shottky (TMBS) Rectifier”, International Electron Device Meeting, 1993]. One such design is the junction barrier controlled Schottky rectifier having a pn-junction used to tailor the electric fields to minimize reverse leakage. Another device is the trench MOS barrier rectifier in which a trench and a MOS barrier action are used to tailor the electrical field profiles. One disadvantage of this device is the introduction of a capacitance by the pn-junction. Also, pn-junctions are somewhat difficult to fabricate in Group III nitride based devices.
The Gallium nitride (GaN) material system has been used in opto-electronic devices such as high efficiency blue and green LEDs and lasers, and electronic devices such as high power microwave transistors. GaN has a 3.4 eV wide direct bandgap, high electron velocity (2×107 cm/s), high breakdown fields (2×106 V/cm) and the availability of heterostructures.